Run for the roses

Yesterday I decided to take the kids to see the Park of Roses in Columbus. Besides Inniswood it's my other favorite park in town, especially this time of year when the roses are almost at their peak. The kids didn't really want to go and complained the whole way there, but then later they said they asked me when we could come back. We started by having a little picnic on a bench in the shade. A few people were walking dogs and the kids liked watching them while we ate. Then we walked around to look at some flowers.

They thought this staircase gazebo was pretty cool.

All was going well and we were headed towards the bathroom when Jordis tripped and fell on a gravel path, cutting both of her knees. I typically have a first aid kit in my purse, but I had switched purses, so all I had to give her was a few napkins and an ice pack from our picnic.

Here is our four-year-old tending to her injuries after I tried to clean her off and get the gravel out.

Here is her 34-year-old mother lying in the grass so she didn't pass out after seeing the blood. (If you can't make fun of yourself you're taking life way too seriously, right???)

Last week I got lucky when Xander hurt himself, as my neighbor, Lisa, had been taking a walk right before and stopped to chat. I threw a Band-Aid at her and said "Here, put this on my kid." She still had to witness my lying-in-the-grass phenomenon, but yesterday I had no help. Thankfully we didn't need any Band-Aids after a bit and Jordis was happy to continue on her way. In fact, she was so fine that she didn't care until bath time that she had immersed her cuts in sand at the playground. Then she screamed in horror at the bath and follow-up peroxide I used to try and get the dirt out. Anyway, we finally made it to the restroom and then off to the pond and playground where the kids made a friend.

We were hot and exhausted by the time we left, but the kids had fun which was my only goal for the day, so it was worth the adventure.

Hoover Dam

It rained a lot last week, so when the sun came out on Saturday afternoon we decided to take the kids out to Hoover Dam for the evening. As a kid, we used to come here quite a bit. I never realized it wasn't the only Hoover Dam until after high school when my dad and step-mom took me here a few weeks after my high school graduation. Who knew?

We decided to grab some dinner and eat by the water. Apparently the geese were too much for the kids to handle though, so we let them eat ON the table so they'd stop freaking out.

After eating we walked up over the dam to show the kids where the water goes.

It was a nice night to get out of the house.

Easter

The thought of spending Easter away from home was a little daunting at first, but when it came down to it we had a really fun time. Saturday night before bed the kids colored eggs. Xander went last because he wanted to mix all the dye colors.

We were concerned that the kids might worry about the Easter bunny not finding them, but it wasn't a problem at all. All four of the little munchkins were so excited when they woke up.

Somehow we all managed to get ready for church.

And I thought some of these were cute as well.

After church we hid the eggs the kids dyed and had an egg hunt. Sarah bought them bunny ears to wear. We thought they'd put up a fight about it so we told them no hunting if they didn't have them on, but they actually seemed okay with it. To lessen the fighting they could each find a certain amount and then they had to be finished.

After lunch the kids played outside while Sarah and I made Easter dinner. We had a nice picnic dinner of turkey, homemade bread, sweet potato crunch, pineapple casserole and a black forest pie. It was a great end to a wonderful visit.

Spring???

Mother Nature teased us this week with a little bit of spring. She can be so mean sometimes. We tried our best to take advantage of it though.

On Sunday Jason and I both had errands to run.....on complete opposite sides of Columbus. So he took Xan and I took Jordis and we went our separate ways for girl/guy time. Jordis and I were at Easton and I was excited about the prospect of lunch, even if she picked McDonald's. Jason isn't a fan of the golden arches, though I am, so occasionally I look forward to eating there. But not my little girl. She wanted a hot dog. There were only two places I could think of to get one, one being Steak N' Shake, and the other being Auntie Anne's. I tried to get her to go to Auntie Anne's and told her how yummy a hot dog would be wrapped up in a hot pretzel, but she wasn't having it. So alas, I ended up at the Steak N' Shake that I've been boycotting since I was pregnant with Xander six years ago. (They should really know better than to deny a pregnant woman some breakfast food five minutes before breakfast hours are officially over). Anyway, it clearly looks like Jordis is about to seriously enjoy this hot dog, doesn't it?

Um, wrong answer. Ate the applesauce and a few fries and declared, "This hot dog is yuck!"

A few days later it was even nicer, so when Xander got home from school I thought it might be nice to have a little picnic. The grass was really wet from all the melting snow, so we decided to sit on the driveway. First picnic I've ever had next to piles of snow.

It was also the quickest picnic I've ever had because someone saw a bee and it was all over.

A little bit later we attempted a bike ride.

That went pretty well. So well, in fact, that I had trouble getting one of them to come home.

One day this week there were two birthdays in Xander's class and Jordis was sad about him getting treats, so on Thursday morning I took her to get a donut. I'm not going to lie, I really needed an excuse to go to Tim Horton's for coffee. Her combination of short sleeved shirt and fleece pants was interesting, but I'll give her credit for matching. She was feeling quite sassy this day.

And then as quickly as it came, it left again. And now we have rain. And more rain tonight. And more rain tomorrow.

Guess that's what you get when you wish for Spring.

Summer's winding down

I can't believe that Xander starts kindergarten next week. Yikes! We've been keeping busy trying to fit in as much as we can. Here's Jordis at one of Jason's softball games. She's a combination of girlie and tomboy. Princess hat, but on backwards, shorts on backwards, shoes on the wrong feet, playing basketball. That's my girl.

The kids and I went to the zoo with my mom one evening for Family Night at the Zoo. We had free Bob Evans pulled pork over mashed potatoes with bbq sauce and cheddar cheese, along with some food we brought for a picnic. The kids also got to make a rain stick, get face painting and climb on various inflatables.

We finally got a couple veggies on our plants. The kids have to run out on the deck every morning to see if they're bigger.

Jordis did some shopping with me one afternoon at Trader Joe's while Xander was making snakes and spiders at pottery class.

This week Xander went to summer day camp at Recreation Unlimited. He got to go on a paddle boat, fish from a pontoon boat, go swimming, climb a giant tower, take his light sabre for Star Wars day and I think his favorite thing was that they had free-flowing lemonade from a pop machine at lunch time. He also made a few friends. Here he is with his counselor, Miss Kim, wearing a tye-died shirt he made while he was there.

While Xan was at camp I had quite a bit of alone time with Jordis. She helped me wash my car...

...rode the horse at the grocery store...

...ate Steak n' Shake with me at the park...

...and met up with Jason at the playground...

Can't wait to see what this week holds!